MashTalk

By Mashable

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MashTalk is a weekly podcast from Mashable's Tech team. Host Pete Pachal dives deep into the biggest topics in tech with Mashable Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff and a rotating lineup of guests.

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CleanPreventing a dark future, with guest Andrew Keen

Is the future broken?
Maybe not, but, by many measures, the present is. Over the past couple of years, the networks and devices that we've come to rely on for our information, consumption, and social interactions have been exposed to have toxic underbellies: Social networks have been twisted by fake news and filter bubbles, the constant ping of notifications on screens has shortened attention spans and created addictions, and it seems all the big tech companies are determined to erase every trace of privacy left in the world.
We know how we got here. In fact, most of the conversation in 2017 was about examining the problems and laying blame. Now the conversation have begun about repairing the damage and charting the best way forward.
One of the people leading that conversation is Andrew Keen. Keen is an author, and if you look at the titles of his previous books -- The Cult of the Amateur, Digital Vertigo, and The Internet Is Not the Answer -- you can tell he's been a tech naysayer since before it was cool. But he's taking a different tune with his new book, titled How to Fix the Future. Instead of diagnosing problems, Keen is proposing solutions, traveling the globe to educate himself and his readers on how governments, private enterprise, and individuals can build some kind of new "digital social contract" as the influence of technology in our lives inevitably grows.
Keen joins MashTalk to discuss those solutions, and the five tools he thinks are essential in creating them: competitive innovation, social responsibility, worker and consumer choice, education, and -- yes -- regulation. While many in Silicon Valley might bristle at any discussion of government stepping in on their turf, Keen sees regulation as an essential part of fixing things, although he also explains that it's not a panacea, and that it needs to be complemented with empowered consumers and innovative companies with new business models.
Follow Andrew Keen on Twitter.
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Snap is starting the year off strong. Its quarterly earnings blew past expectations, and while its redesign is angering some users, the change is expected to improve the app experience for everyone, with time.
But life hasn't always been so great for Snapchat. CEO Evan Spiegel continues to be compared to Mark Zuckerberg and his tech giant Facebook, whose much larger products keep taking on Snapchat-esque features. Such a comparison isn't so crazy. Back in 2013, Facebook offered $1 billion to acquire Snapchat. Zuckerberg later upped the offer to $3 billion. And that's just one drama in a long saga of how Snapchat and Spiegel rose to fame.
For more details on the rise of Snapchat, we spoke with the guy who wrote the book — seriously — on this week's MashTalk. Billy Gallagher is the author of "How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story," which is out Feb. 13 and available on Amazon.
Gallagher has quite the personal knowledge of the whole "Snapchat Story." He attended Stanford with Spiegel and was in the same fraternity. Back then, he covered the early days of Snapchat for TechCrunch. Gallagher later worked in venture capital, and now, he's getting his MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. He also says his favorite Snapchat filter is the puppy lens.
In the book, Gallagher illustrates the personality of Spiegel as a frat brother, someone who would stand back, solo cup in hand, and watch pledges push each other in shopping carts; someone who would ask those some pledges to help him with his startup; someone who later took Taylor Swift as his date to Snapchat's New Year's Eve party.
A major character and story arc in the book is Reggie Brown, the classmate who suggested the idea of a disappearing messaging app. Brown later forced out of the company and sued. Spiegel and his fellow cofounder Bobby Murphy settled for $157.5 million.
We chatted with Gallagher about Spiegel and Brown and what he predicts for the future of Snapchat. There wouldn't be a Snapchat without Spiegel, he said, and there may not be one in the future without him, he argued.
Follow Billy Gallagher on Twitter.
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CleanThe real story of Steve Jobs 'getting fired' from Apple, with guest John Sculley

It's legend in the computer industry: In the mid '80s, Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple, the company he co-founded and went on to eventually lead to worldwide dominance, after a boardroom battle with the CEO at the time, John Sculley.
Over the years, the story got altered and adapted -- to the point where many assumed Jobs was fired, either by Sculley or Apple's board, which wasn't the case. Jobs did lose a boardroom showdown with Sculley (which actually played out over a week or so), one where Jobs' plan of moving marketing dollars from the Apple II to the Macintosh Office was rejected by the board, which led to Jobs being stripped of his leadership of the Macintosh team and pushed him to leave the company.
In other words, Jobs ouster was tantamount to a firing, but not an actual firing.
Good information, but not as good as knowing Sculley's thoughts and reflections about the incident, some 30+ years on. But that's just what we got when we sat down to talk to the former Apple CEO for Mashable's MashTalk podcast.
Now 78, Sculley has gained a new appreciation for founders since his time at Apple, and has gone on to become one himself: He co-founded Zeta Global, a data-driven marketing company, in 2007 and founded Obi Worldphone, which builds smartphones for emerging markets. He's also been an investor in many other companies since he himself was forced out of Apple in 1993, including MetroPCS, Wine Clip, and PopTech.
Sculley had a lot to say about the state of the tech industry and the current backlash against it. On the podcast he shares his thoughts on what social media has done to society, where he stands on government regulation of tech, and the fundamentals we need to stick to as we try to integrate technology into our lives as we chart our own future.
Follow @MashTalk on Twitter.

The Mashable team is back from CES 2018, and we have lots of things to say about what impressed us, disappointed us, and just plain weirded us out. This year's show was filled with driverless cars, wall-sized TVs, and enough talking gadgets to fill, well, a convention hall. On this week's MashTalk we break down the show, pick our highlights and our lowlights, and try to grok some greater meaning.
Check out our top picks from the show.
Follow MashTalk on Twitter.

CleanWhy Android is immune to the iPhone's battery problem, with guest John Poole of Geekbench

After it was revealed in late 2017 that Apple intentionally slows down the performance of older iPhones when their batteries deteriorate, people freaked. There were explanations, recriminations, apologies, lawsuits, and, finally, solutions.
But in the wake of that specific controversy, a question arose: Does this happen to Android phones, too?
For the most part, the answer seems to be no. While the nature of and Android ecosystem -- with its hundreds of manufacturers, all using different chips and software layers -- makes a comprehensive investigation difficult, there's evidence that suggest Android vendors slowing down older phones because of old batteries isn't a thing.
For starters, several major companies, like Samsung and Motorola, declared that they simply don't do it. But there's a more reliable way to check, and that's by going to the same set of data that exposed the iPhone issue: Checking the benchmark scores of older Android phones to see if there are enough of them getting results that are significantly worse than the well-documented scores of a brand-new phone.
Primate Labs, the company that created Geekbench, did exactly that.
"We focused on Samsung simply because they are the largest handset provider on Android, and we viewed this as a litmus test," explains John Poole, author of the original study that provided hard evidence of the iPhone slow-down problem. "We haven't seen any evidence of this widespread performance-limiting problem that has affected the Apple iPhones. It seems to be that this is a problem that is very unique to Apple."
Poole joins MashTalk for an extended discussion on the iPhone slowdown problem, and why the issue doesn't appear to exist in that ecosystem. The first clue: Android phones have bigger batteries. But it's not the whole story.
Follow John and Geekbench on Twitter.
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If you did some online shopping this holiday season, chances are you bought something from Amazon. And if you did, you certainly saw a splash ad for the company's own devices, including one for the Fire TV Stick, whose price was slashed from the regular $39.99 to just $24.99.
I know I did. And when I saw the ad for the 17th or 18th time, even though I wasn't planning to buy the Stick (I already had a first-gen device, which lacks Alexa integration), I found myself clicking "Add to Cart."
I wasn't the only one. Amazon says its customer bought 2.7x times as many Fire TV Sticks over the Black Friday shopping period than it did over the same period last year. It also claimed to have sold "millions" of Alexa-compatible devices.
That's impressive. It also might make you wonder: How can any other purveyor of video streaming devices compete? Apple didn't help itself when it decided to offer its Apple TV 4K at a prohibitive price point, starting at $179. To be fair, the Apple TV 4K more directly competes with the new Fire TV box, but the price difference is still eye-popping -- you can buy a Fire TV today for just $54.99. Even if you look to streaming mainstay Roku, it's 4K Ultra streaming box sells for $89.99.
Beware what you buy, though, since it might not be compatible with the services you want. Google made that abundantly clear recently by restricting YouTube from Amazon devices, and Amazon famously doesn't make its streaming apps Google Cast-compatible, meaning they don't work on Google Chromecast. It doesn't even offer any Chromecast or Apple TV in its store... or at least it didn't until this week.
Will things get better among streaming competitors? How does Amazon get away with selling its devices so cheap? And what are the guiding principles for its Fire TV line? Scott Henson, Amazon's director of product management for Fire TV, swings by the MashTalk podcast to give some insights into Amazon's streaming-box plans as well as some thoughts on why how we're watching is almost as important as what we're watching. He also tackles the question: Will we ever see ads on Amazon video?
(Note: This podcast was recorded before Amazon announced it would accept Google Chromecast and Apple TV back into its online store.)

CleanHow to re-invent the home phone, with guest Republic Wireless CEO Chris Chuang

Got a smartphone? Then you must also have a wireless plan, and if you live in the U.S., chances are it's with one of the big four — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint.
However, there are a bunch of other carriers you may have seen around, carriers with names like Cricket, Jolt, metroPCS, and Virgin. These are MVNOs, or mobile virtual network operators, and they exist by leasing spectrum from the major carriers. They're also often a better deal, thanks to selectively targeting demographics and relying heavily on Wi-Fi to support the network.
One of those MVNOs is Republic Wireless. Founded in 2010, it made a name for itself in the following years by putting Wi-Fi calling on the map. Thanks to a Wi-Fi-centered strategy, Republic was able to offer incredibly cheap deals, which had the potential to cut big money off a wireless bill — a Mashable editor actually saved over $150 every month by switching. The big catch: The phones that actually worked on Republic was very limited; notably, it didn't — and still doesn't — offer the iPhone.
After quietly expanding the number of phones that are compatible with its network, Republic Wireless is making noise again. It's just announced two new hardware products that will debut in early 2018: a phone with no screen that looks more like a panic button, and its own smart speaker.
On this week's MashTalk, Republic Wireless co-founder and CEO Chris Chuang explained who the products are for: families. The screenless phone, called Relay, functions as both a kid tracker and a way to communicate directly with them. The single button directly calls the parent, and it's equipped with GPS so the parent can check the kid's location anytime. The device also provides access to Google Assistant, so the kid can ask questions and get answers without bothering mom or dad (and yes there are parental controls for what information the Assistant can surface).
The smart speaker is called Anywhere HQ, and it's also equipped with Google Assistant. It looks like any other wireless speaker, but if you pick it up off its (heavy) charging cradle and look at the bottom you'll see all the buttons for a cordless phone. The big difference is that it's a phone that works with your smartphone's phone number, and it also works over the 4G LTE network -- so you can take it anywhere.
If this all sounds great to you, but you're still not psyched to jump to a carrier without the iPhone, Chuang has some good news for you: On the podcast he reveals Republic Wireless will offer an iPhone in 2018. He just didn't say which one.
Follow Republic Wireless on Twitter.
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The video conference is one of the least-liked parts of modern office culture.
Despite the plethora of video conferencing services -- Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, Highfive, Skype, FaceTime, and dozens more -- the first five minutes of every meeting tends to be a series of fruitless attempts to get everyone's audio working correctly. And even when it does, dropped connections, poorly timed muting/unmuting, and quiet talkers often ruin the flow.
The truth is video conferencing is hard. Layering random internet services on top of ad hoc equipment on top of users with virtually no training means you get a grab-bag of results. Sure there are sleek corporate systems, but their cost often puts them out of range of most startups.
Will things get better for video conferencing? Or will Gen Z need to get used to the facepalm-setups millennials (and others) have endured for years? On this week's MashTalk, Mary McDowell, the CEO of video conferencing mainstay Polycom joins the podcast to talk about the real reason your office is so bad at video conferencing, the future of meetings, and whether telepresence robots are a thing.
Follow Mary on Twitter.

Is hardware really that hard?
OnePlus pointed to the borderline-cliché catchphrase, "Hardware is hard" at its event on Thursday to launch the OnePlus 5T. But the company's own product release schedule appears to belie the saying, with the 5T coming a mere five months after its predecessor, the OnePlus 5.
However, if you look at OnePlus' ambitious launch timeline and conclude the opposite -- that hardware is easy -- you'd be jumping to the wrong conclusion. The China-based company has simply gotten really good at leveraging its natural advantages (for instance, its proximity to prototype facilities in Shenzhen) to fuel its nimbleness.
OnePlus also earns its reputation as a bold upstart. It doesn't think in the same new-flagship-every-year-on-the-dot terms as bigger brands like Samsung, and LG. The company just ships phones when they're ready, and the "T" suffix it has attached to its second-gen releases is an unsubtle dig at Apple's "S" upgrades.
Still, are they going too fast, even for an upstart? Like other mobile manufacturers, OnePlus has had some serious software issues over the past several months. First, it was reported OnePlus phones were harvesting data on customers in questionable ways, and then there was the "Engineer Mode" discovery -- a potential backdoor for hackers who got a hold of your device.
OnePlus Head of Marketing Kyle Kiang (pronounced "jung") drops in on the MashTalk podcast to set the record straight on those incidents, explain why the OnePlus 5T is coming so hot on the heels of the OnePlus 5, and reveal how he is able to tell the OnePlus story at a company that does very little traditional marketing.

Apple's catchphrase, "Think different" is so well-known, that it's not often used in its original context, more often pulled out as an ironic dig when the company does something users don't like (eliminating a certain jack comes to mind).
In the case of the iPhone X, though, the irony disappears. Users will definitely need to think differently as they encounter an iPhone with no home button, a front camera that can scan your face, and a "notch" — all firsts for the iPhone. The iPhone X doesn't just have new features; it has a whole new way of interacting with the device.
Will owners get used to the new features quickly, or will they be a continual source of frustration? To answer that question, the MashTalk podcast spoke with two of the only people outside of Apple who have used the device for more than a week: Mashable Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff and BuzzFeed Personal Technology Reporter Nicole Nguyen.
Both Lance and Nicole were part of the first group of tech reviewers to get their hands on the iPhone X, using them for a whole week before publishing extensive reviews. They've both now been using the phone for 10 days, and are probably two of the only people outside of Apple who can say with authority whether the iPhone's new paradigm is something you'll love or hate.
Besides telling us everything you want to know about what it's like to use the iPhone X, Nicole and Lance let us peek behind the curtain at Apple's process of seeding phones to reviewers, which was a whole different ballgame this time around. They also have some surprising thoughts on whether this iPhone really earns its $1,000 price tag.
Follow Nicole on Twitter.
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As it has evolved from digital storefront to ecommerce empire, Amazon built up a lot of trust over the years. Now it's testing the limits of that trust with Amazon Key.
It's a simple enough concept, which really solves a problem: The main thing Amazon does is deliver packages to your door, but there's always the question of what happens when you're not home? In many cases, that package may find a different home if it doesn't get through your door right away.
Amazon Key, which includes a smart lock and security camera, will let the delivery person in your front door and let you keep an eye on them -- from wherever you are. In cities, where lots of people live in apartments, the idea has a lot of merit.
It also has a lot of connotations Amazon would like to avoid. The company is already a presence in many households through its Echo devices and Alexa voice assistant, and Amazon Key feels like a bridge too far. It also speaks to just how much we're willing to allow tech companies to encroach into our lives in places we'd never trust the government.
In this week's MashTalk podcast, the Mashable team unpacks what Amazon Key means for the company and tech in general, and answer the question: Is it worth the tradeoff? We also discuss the company's now-bloated line of Echo devices. But is this really fragmentation, and even if it is, does it even matter for a voice-powered device like the Echo?
Finally, we reveal the gadget you should definitely get this holiday season. And -- surprise -- it's from Amazon.
Follow @mashtalk on Twitter.

What does Google know about hardware that no one else does?
If you said software, you're almost right. What Google likes to think is its secret sauce is artificial intelligence, which manifests in its consumer products as the Google Assistant. The Assistant was front and center during the company's big hardware event earlier this month.
From the new Pixel 2 phones to the Home Mini and Home Max smart speakers to the insanely powerful Pixelbook laptop, Google pointed to its command, "OK, Google" again and again as a key way to interact with its devices and get information.
Nowhere was the power of AI more clear than in the Pixel Buds earphones, a set of wireless headphones that can translate spoken language on the fly. AI is also a big selling point of Clips, the camera that Google intends to be a kind of intelligent life logger: You set it down on the a shelf or floor, and it will smartly capture only the moments that matter to you.
Are all these smarts compelling or creepy? And even if it's the former, is having a smart AI enough for Google to actually move these products on store shelves? And what's good (Miley)?
Those are the questions Mashable's Tech Team tackles in the latest MashTalk. Tech Reporter Karissa Bell, who got to try out Google's new suite of products, joins the podcast alongside Tech Correspondent Raymond Wong and Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff.
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Another day, another data breach.
That would definitely be an apt catch phrase for 2017, with major, high-profile hacks or breaches coming with disturbing regularity. Equifax and HBO were all hit hard, and the WannaCry ransomware crippled infrastructure around the globe. Even Instagram wasn't spared.
With every breach, another refrain is typically heard: That it was preventable. If only the people in charge had invested more in cybersecurity, or updated their systems, or simply weren't incompetent, then the hack never would have happened. Yet those same people often face little or no direct consequences.
Some people want to change that, and one of them is Todd Thibodeaux, CEO of CompTIA, a technology association that promotes standards and helps guide the IT industry. Thibodeaux thinks, when it comes to poor network security, accountability for private companies needs to happen at the highest level: the board of directors.
Joining the show this week, Thibodeaux goes into detail how such an approach would work and shares his thoughts on why it feels like breaches and hacking -- especially ransomware -- have taken a sharp rise. He also takes a minute to clarify that there actually is a framework for cybersecurity standards that any company can use, but clearly not nearly enough do.
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Should you get the iPhone 8? Depends: Are you easily bored?
Because the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are definitely the ho-hum iPhones this year. Although Apple would never say it, the improvements over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are mostly incremental, with wireless charging and some new camera tricks (including Portrait Lighting) being the highlights. The real star is the iPhone X, which isn't coming for another month.
That's the consensus from most reviewers, too. It's not that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are bad phones -- far from it, they're some of the best-performing smartphones you can buy -- it's just that Apple spoiled its own launch party by also announcing the iPhone X, which has demonstrably major upgrades, like an edge-to-edge screen and an advanced front-facing camera module.
On this week's MashTalk, Time's Lisa Eadicicco joins us to compare notes with Mashable Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff and Senior Tech Correspondent Ray Wong, all of whom have tried out the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus before they went on sale. Not only does the panel dive deep into the (few) new features of the two iPhones making their debut, it also answers the question: If the iPhone X is the true upgrade, why do these phones even exist?
Follow Lisa on Twitter.
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CleanWhat the iPhone X means for the iPhone 11, with guest Christina Warren

This is no ordinary iPhone year.
After three years of dual-release events -- where Apple would launch two phones with generally the same abilities but different sizes -- we finally got something new. On Sept. 12, 2017, Apple announced three new iPhones: the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the forward-looking iPhone X (pronounced "ten").
You might be thinking, "What happened to iPhone 9?" But the iPhone X has much more severe consequences for next year's iPhone, something we explore at length on this week's MashTalk podcast. For the iPhone 11 (or whatever it's called), will Apple take advancements -- like the edge-to-edge OLED display, the TrueDepth camera system, and advanced camera system -- and simply put them in two different-size phones? Or will Apple keep its premium tier, and continue to sell a higher-end phone for those willing to pay extra for the latest features?
To help predict the future of the iPhone, MashTalk turns to the past: Christina Warren, former Mashable Senior Tech Correspondent and current Microsoft employee, returns to the podcast for our Apple recap, along with current Senior Tech Correspondent Ray Wong and Apps Reporter Karissa Bell.
Besides the iPhone X, we also reflect on the iPhone 8's "middle child" status, figure out the ultimate form of the "notch," pass judgment on the Apple TV 4K (hint: it doesn't fare well), and ask the question on everyone's mind: What the hell is up with that red dot on the Apple Watch Series 3?
Follow Christina on Twitter.
Follow Raymond, Karissa, Pete, and MashTalk as well.

CleanSecrets of the iPhone 8, with guests Mark Gurman and Jim Dalrymple

When Apple throws its annual iPhone bash on Tuesday, everyone will finally get their first look at the most awaited gadget of the year, the new "premium" iPhone, the so-called iPhone 8.
Everyone except Mark Gurman, that is.
The Bloomberg reporter has already held a prototype of the iPhone 8 (or iPhone X, or iPhone Edition, or iPhone Pro, or whatever it's called) and delivered an extensive report on how the home button -- or rather the lack of one -- would work.
On this week's MashTalk, Gurman joins the podcast to share a little more detail on his experience with the iPhone 8, give his predictions for everything else Apple might have in store for its Sept. 12 event, and address any concerns about whether or not Apple will be able to meet the sure-to-be-enormous demand for its top-tier iPhone.
Also joining the show is Jim Dalrymple, editor in chief of Loop Insight. With his deep knowledge of Apple and its history, Dalrymple gives us needed perspective on just how big a moment this is for Tim Cook and Apple, especially considering the radical changes in the iPhone, the venue for the event (the brand-new Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus), and the fact that this is the year of the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.
Who is the iPhone 8 for? What is Apple going to call it? And what does it mean for the "regular" iPhones? Dalrymple, Gurman, Lance Ulanoff and I set the stage for the biggest tech event of the year in a wide-ranging discussion.
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CleanWhat Joel Osteen learned about social media from Hurricane Harvey

Thank heaven for social media.
That sentiment was definitely on the minds of many people caught in the path of Hurricane Harvey, which is shaping up to be one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. It dumped 24.5 trillion gallons of water on Texas -- enough to cover the entire state of Arizona in a foot of water. More than 32,000 people were displaced and forced to go to shelters. The official death toll stands at 46 (at the time of the podcast it was 35).
That last number might have been higher if not for social media. In the early hours of the hurricane, 911 systems were overwhelmed, and many people reported not being able to get through to emergency services at all. With the water level rising and no help coming, lots of people turned to social media to plea for rescue.
Public figures felt the power of social media in the wake of the disaster, too. Popular Houston-based televangelist Joel Osteen was forced to respond when Twitter stirred up criticism that his massive Lakewood Church stood nearly empty while shelters in the area were filling up. First Lady Melania Trump was a target, too, over her choice of footwear, although the backlash to that criticism was just as swift.
On this week's MashTalk, we talk to Houston resident and Ringer staff writer Shea Serrano, who became one of the most prolific "signal boosters" on Twitter for people affected by the storm, and Bill Moore, CEO of Zello, whose "live conversations" app was instrumental in enabling people to communicate directly when regular methods weren't working.
Some key stats:
Twitter saw more than 27 million tweets related to Harvey, making it the second most-tweeted event in 2017 (the Super Bowl saw 27.6 million).
Facebook saw more than 1,000 users made requests for help via Safety Check, with more than 3,500 offers from volunteers seeking to help those affected.
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After months of leaks and a year of explosion jokes, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is finally here and it's packing some serious hardware with dual cameras and new S Pen features.
It might even be Samsung's best phone yet, but it's got a lot of competition this time around. The iPhone 8 is around the corner, Google's Pixel 2 is expected after that, and the Essential Phone just launched with a screen that's to die for.
Can Samsung fend off attacks from three sides?
That's the question that'll be on many people's minds as they decide which phone to upgrade to. If you thought picking a new phone was hard last year, this year's even more difficult.
The Note 8 is a fine phone, loaded with all of the features you'd expect. Here's a list of all the major features that makes it so attractive:
Beautiful glass and metal design
6.3-inch edge-to-edge screen
Dual 12-megapixel cameras
64GB of storage with microSD card slot for expansion
IP68 water and dust resistance
Improved S Pen features
Fast charging and fast wireless charging
Fingerprint sensor, iris scanner, and face recognition for biometrics
Headphone jack
A battery that won't explode
Samsung's crammed a lot into the Note 8, but at the same time, it's also expensive AF at around $930 (it's a few bucks more or less depending on your carrier).
Android Police's Managing Editor David Ruddock and Engadget's Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low joins this week's MashTalk to tell you if the phone's worth it or not.
We also break down the Essential Phone is the poster child for what all phones will look like in the next few years.
David also spills everything he knows about the Pixel 2, which could be announced on Oct. 5 and the best things in Android Oreo.
You can subscribe to MashTalk on iTunes or Google Play, and we'd appreciate it if you could leave a review. Feel free to hit us with questions and comments by tweeting to @mashtalk or adding the #MashTalk hashtag. We welcome all feedback.

For those who obsess about the iPhone, it was the mother lode.
After a long period without any substantive informations (although plenty of whispers, speculation, and questionable photos), if finally happened: the biggest iPhone 8 leak so far. In what looks like an understandable but massive mistake, pre-release firmware for the Apple HomePod somehow got uploaded to a public server.
There's a lot of interest in HomePod — the Apple "smart speaker" that's meant for music and has Siri built-in. Apple plans to release it in December, so getting a look at the software four months early is definitely a big deal.
But that was just the beginning. The HomePod software actually included a lot of information about a new iPhone — what has generally been called the iPhone 8 — including details on the exact shape of its edge-to-edge screen, a new kind of biometric security that involves facial recognition, and other features.
One of the key people in deciphering the leak has been Guilherme Rambo, an iOS developer from Brazil. Rambo has been revealing the details he and others have discovered in the HomePod software on his Twitter feed, including references to something called "Pearl ID," a virtual home button, and even an image of what the front of the iPhone 8 will supposedly look like (hint: get ready to hear the term "notch" a lot).
Rambo joins this week's MashTalk podcast along with CNET Executive Editor and mobile analyst Roger Cheng and Mashable Senior Tech Correspondent Raymond Wong to fully unpack this huge leak, explore what this radically redesigned iPhone will mean (to users and Apple), and analyze the info to figure out what's not in the leak.
Follow Guilherme and Roger on Twitter.
Follow Pete, Raymond, and MashTalk (now with an underscore-free handle!) on Twitter, too!
Please leave us a review, and feel free to hit us with questions and comments by tweeting to @mashtalk or adding the #MashTalk hashtag. We welcome all feedback.

CleanThe thing about AI that should have us all worried (hint: It's not Skynet)

Guys, did you hear the news? The robots are going to kill us.
At least that appears to be the primary fear of tech mogul Elon Musk regarding artificial intelligence. This week, when fellow tech titan Mark Zuckerberg was hailing the promise of AI in a Facebook Live Q&A, he ended up subtweeting Musk, calling AI naysayers "irresponsible" for playing up "doomsday scenarios."
Musk fired back on his favorite medium, Twitter, saying Zuck has a "limited understanding" of AI. The resulting headlines made more hay from the tech CEO slap fight than the underlying issue: How much should we be concerned about the growing power of AI, what are the potential dark sides of the tech (Skynet included), and can we do something about them?
To help answer these important questions, Mariya Yao joins the show this week. Yao is the CTO of Topbots, a company that helps other companies build and implement AI solutions to the problems they're trying to solve -- and to do so "wisely." She's also the co-author on a forthcoming book about applied AI.
In this week's MashTalk, Yao, Pete, and Mashable's Michael Nuñez try to boil down what it is exactly that scares Musk so much about AI, what a future AI-powered world might look like, and what the real concerns are about the rapidly growing field in the here and now.
Follow Mariya Yao on Twitter.
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CleanHow emoji is changing the 🌎, with guest Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia 😃

It's been a big week for emoji 😎
After Monday kicked things off with the fourth annual World Emoji Day 🙌 Apple announced a new set of emojis coming to the iPhone later this year, including Woman With Headscarf and Zombie. 😮 Also, Google announced its traditional "blob" emoji, which are getting overhauled later this year, will still be available to Allo users as a sticker pack 🙄
Later this month will see the debut of the Emoji Movie. 🎬 It hits theaters on July 28, and Sony Pictures hosted a ceremony at the Empire State Building to both promote the movie and commemorate World Emoji Day, with the movie's cast — including Patrick Stewart 🚀 and Maya Rudolph 😂 — hosting an event where the iconic skyscraper was lit up in "emoji yellow" 👊
Also in attendance: Jeremy Burge, the founder and Chief Emoji Officer of Emojipedia. 👨‍💻 Chances are if you've ever gone to the internet looking for a particular emoji, found it, then copied-and-pasted it into whatever app you're using, you did that on Emojipedia, a comprehensive site for information about the rapidly evolving — and increasingly relevant — world of emoji 📘
Burge joins MashTalk in a wide-ranging conversation about emoji, its growing role in our discourse, and how the Unicode Consortium 🏛 — the body that's in charge of emoji and includes Burge on its board — decides which emoji get made and which don't. He also settles the debate: Is the plural emoji or emojis? ⚖️
Follow Jeremy and Emojipedia on Twitter.
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The internet five years from now could look a lot different than what it is today.
Building an online business might be harder than ever thanks to the FCC throwing out the rules surrounding Net Neutrality -- the premise that all data on the net should be treated equally regardless of origin or destination. Without Net Neutrality, providers would be free to create so-called "fast lanes" on the internet, prioritizing services that they're friendly to, and relegating those that don't pay up to the slow lane.
At least that's the future many envision if Net Neutrality is thrown out, and those protested this week in the Net Neutrality Day of Action, which saw many major tech companies -- including Facebook, Snapchat, Amazon, and Google -- add their voices to the chorus of entities calling for Net Neutrality to be preserved.
However, Net Neutrality will likely be changed or thrown out no matter what, so the question now becomes: What happens next? On this week's MashTalk, we explore what a future without Net Neutrality looks like, and ask: Is there a chance it might even be better for consumers in some ways?
Mashable Business Editor Jason Abbruzzese and Tech Correspondent Jack Morse join Pete, Lance, and... Elmo...? for an important discussion on the future of internet.

It's right there in the title.
Amazon Prime Day, which is Tuesday, July 11 (though it technically starts on July 10), boasts some of the best deals you'll be able to get on tech, appliances, beauty products, and all the other junk we buy online. But the point of Amazon's fake holiday (which first arrived in 2015) is clear: Get as many people to sign up for Prime, the company's loyalty program that costs $99 a year.
Does that make it a better deal for Amazon or its customers? This week the Mashable crew unpacks the whole idea of Amazon Prime Day, looking at how it's evolved since it first arrived in 2015, and the new emphasis on services and voice deals. We also have plenty of tips for how to get the most out of Prime Day, predict the best deals, and reminisce about the weirdest deals of years past (remember that barrel of lube?).
Business reporter Emma Hinchliffe joins Pete, Lance, and Ray on this week's podcast. Follow @mash_talk on Twitter or attach the #MashTalk hashtag to send us a comment.

For the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, Mashable's Tech Team embarked on an ambitious project: to imagine what the iPhone of 2020 would look like. The idea wasn't to just throw out a bunch of futuristic ideas, but to look at recent rumors surrounding the iPhone 8, Apple's history with the iPhone, and current mobile trends to create a realistic portrayal of what the iPhone will look like three years from now.
What we ended up with something that — while clearly a step beyond the smartphones of today — is unmistakably an iPhone. But an iPhone with an edge-to-edge screen, no home button, a more AI-driven version of iOS, and no ports whatsoever.
After revealing our vision for iPhone 2020, we invited a panel of experts to dissect it — to tell us what we got right and what we got wrong. On this week's MashTalk, iMore Managing Editor Serenity Caldwell, Loup Ventures Managing Partner Gene Munster, and USA Today Tech Columnist Ed Baig join Pete and Mashable staffers Raymond Wong, Lance Ulanoff, and Sam Sheffer in a spirited discussion about the future of the iPhone.
What will the iPhone really look like in the future? Check out our vision of iPhone 2020, and feel free to tell us what you think of it at @mash_talk.
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Uber has been been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. Co-founder Travis Kalanick was forced to resign as CEO after pressure from investors over recent scandals. But does the exit of Kalanick -- who had been on leave from the company and will remain on the board -- signal a new direction for Uber?
This week Pete is joined by a panel of Uber experts, including Farhad Manjoo from The New York Times, JP Mangalindan from Yahoo Finance, and Kerry Flynn from Mashable's business team to answer that very question. Also up for discussion: What kind of person should lead the company next? What about the internal petition to reinstate him? Will Kalanick's downfall change Silicon Valley startup culture at all? And, if you're an Uber user, what should your takeaway be from all this?
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The Microsoft Surface line has grown a lot in the five years since its debut. It now encompasses the Surface Pro tablet, Surface Book convertible, Surface Studio all-in-one, Surface Hub digital "whiteboard," and the brand-new Surface Laptop. With Microsoft device lead Panos Panay in the studio, Pete and Lance find out the inside story on how Microsoft built its own high-end hardware empire, and finally get him to explain why they don't just bundle the Surface Pro with a frickin' keyboard already.
Follow Panos on Twitter.
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Links:
Microsoft's Surface Pro (2017) review: Super familiar and still super good
Microsoft Surface Laptop review: It comes with one big suck, but it's easily fixable

Apple WWDC 2017 was jam-packed with news, including new iMacs, the iMac Pro, macOS High Sierra, a new iPad Pro, iOS 11, HomePod, and more. We break it all down with special guest Jason Snell of Six Colors.

Facebook clearly has big, long-term ambitions, and this week we learned just how big. At its annual F8 developer conference, the company let us take a peek into its future technologies, some of them pretty far out — in every sense. Karissa Bell joins us to talk about brain-machine interfaces that might someday let you type faster than a keyboard ever could or let you "hear" through your skin. Back in the present, the Galaxy S8 is finally here, and we give our final verdict on Samsung's latest iPhone killer.

When WikiLeaks dumped a plethora of CIA documents this week, it revealed many of our devices are vulnerable to hacking. Scary, but should Apple, Google say thank you for helping make their devices more secure? Also: Tinder for the rich and famous! It's a thing. (16:05) And we dissect the rumor about the next iPhone's secret name. (24:14) Mashable's Emma Hinchliffe and Cassie Murdoch join.

On this week's MashTalk, the Mashable tech team chatted about Facebook's new tool for cracking down on fake news, Snapchat's new group chat feature, and Yahoo's second security breach that affected 1 billion user accounts.

CleanSnapchat Spectacles is off to a great start avoiding Google Glass's stigma

On this week's MashTalk, the tech team reviews Snapchat's Spectacles and new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar, discusses Facebook's fake news problem and looks forward to Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping!

CleaniOS 10 gets more Snapchat-like with supercharged iMessage features

On this week's MashTalk, the Mashable crew talks iPhone 7 Plus shortages, what's new in iOS 10 and the awesomeness/scariness of hailing and going for a ride in one of Uber's new self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, PA.

Can you live without a headphone jack? For millions of iPhone owners, they're about to find out, assuming reports (and there are many) that the iPhone 7 will be the first smartphone from Apple to do away with the venerable audio port. Apple's fall event is less than a week away, and it's of course the topic of our weekly MashTalk podcast.
It all comes down to what Apple does. There's still a chance it won't kill the iPhone headphone jack, but assuming it does, what will be in the box? Wireless headphones? Lightning headphones? Regular headphones with a dongle? Just a dongle? We sort out the possibilities and more in this episode, where we're joined by special guest Mashable Creative Producer Sam Sheffer.
Stick around till the end for some bold predictions about what Apple will announce, along with our thoughts on another likely announcement: the Apple Watch 2.

First up is Google's newly-released Android 7.0 Nougat (2:03), which is now available for Nexus phones and tablets. We then move to virtual reality -- VEE ARRRRR (10:24). The most interesting topic involves McDonald's and its short-lived Happy Meal fitness wearable (29:25). And finally, we assessed Tim Cook's first five years as CEO of Apple post-Steve Jobs (35:46).

This is the final MashTalk to feature Christina Warren -- AKA C-Mac, AKA Film_Girl -- as a host. Don't worry, MashTalk will continue. Christina loves you all very much and wants to thank the listeners for their patronage and awesomeness over the years. She also wants RayRay, Lance and Pete to know how much she loves them.
But don't fret, it's not all sad. C-Mac, Raymond Wong and Pete Pachal settle in to talk about everything happening in the world of tech.
The gang kicks stuff off with a disccussion about the latest iPhone rumors (2:00). This inevitably leads into yet another discussion about the headphone jack (RIP) and what kind of earbuds Apple might package with the device this fall (10:00).
After the iPhone talk, discussion moves onto the other Apple product rumored for a big update, the MacBook Pro (16:45). The gang discusses the rumored design decisions, the ubiquity of USB-C and how much dongle hell we'll all be in. Too bad we're not expecting to see the new MacBook until October.
Moving on, Ray talks about his experience with the Dlodlo VR headset (30:00). It's thin, light and only a little bit dorky looking. OK, it still looks really nerdy. Christina's not sure that any third-platform (let alone one from Kickstarter) is going to make waves in VR but Ray is hopeful that this thing encourage other manufactuers to make sleeker gear. Pete's not convinced VR will ever be a thing we wear all the time.
Finally, the gang discusses the GIF-ban on the Olympics (38:00) and how the Internet has gotten around it anyway. The New York Times' approach with swimming animations is really smart. Everyone basically agrees that even though the rationale for NBC might make sense on paper, trying to stop the GIFs is just futile.

Welcome back MashTalkers! Pete is out this week, so Lance and Christina are joined by Mashable Product Analyst Ray Wong to talk about everything happening in the world of tech.
They get stuff started off with a discussion about Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 event. (1:15) Lance and Ray were both at the product launch and had some time with the device to see how it works. The bottom line is that it’s a very, very good phone. In fact, RayRay says it’s the “best Samsung ever.” But make no mistake, it is expensive and the gang discusses how much it will cost (14:00) and how that positions the device.
Moving on, the gang dissects Instagram Stories (17:00), Facebook’s biggest play against Snapchat yet. They talk about the blatant design rip-off and how this basically means Facebook has declared war on Snapchat. But RayRay isn’t loving it and he rants (21:00) about what this means for his overall Instagram experience.
Closing out the episode, everyone has some fun talking about how Kim Kardashian has finally had to say goodbye to her BlackBerry. (33:00) Don’t worry, Lance wrote up some excellent suggestions for what Kim should replace her Berry with.
The episode closes out with an almost tearful on-air goodbye between Lance and Christina. Don’t worry – Lance will be back week after next.

On this week’s episode of MashTalk, Lance, Pete and Christina discuss everything happening in the world of tech.
After a brief update on Pokémon Go tactics (1:02), the gang discusses Apple (3:30) and ita latest earnings. The company made less money than it did last year, but it still managed to sell it’s billionth iPhone, which is pretty incredible.
There is some discussion about whether or not we will see new Macs from Apple in September (14:30), Lance thinks no, Christina and Pete are more optimistic. Also, Christina cheated on the podcast this week. Don’t worry, she still loves MashTalk best.
The Apple talk dovetails into a long discussion about Yahoo’s sale to Verizon (20:30). They spend some time discussing the last four years under Marissa Mayer and discuss whether this conclusion was really just an inevitability.
Speaking of Yahoo, the discussion turns to a company that tried to buy them eight years ago, Microsoft. Microsoft has a new iOS camera app this week, Microsoft Pix (37:00). It seems really cool, but does the world really need another camera app?
Speaking of stuff the world needs, Lance tries to convince Pete and Christina why Dyson’s $1000 360 Eye robot vacuum is something worth buying.

On this week's slightly-truncated (but super high-energy!) episode of MashTalk, Lance, Pete and Christina tackle the latest news happening in the world of tech!
First up, the gang shares where they are in Pokémon Go (0:30). You might not believe who is the best at this game out of us three. Christina has still managed to not spend actual money on the game. This is a miracle.
But the gang quickly moves on from happy topics to the case of the Twitter trolls attack on Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones (2:20). That led Jones to briefly leave Twitter (she rejoined the platform a few hours after the podcast was recorded) and led Twitter to finally ban one of its biggest trolls. They discuss why it took so long for Twitter to take action and Lance and Pete offer up some great suggestions for technical ways Twitter could help curb the abuse problem.
Moving on, the gang discusses rumors that there could be three iPhone 7 models this fall (13:50) and how that might work from a marketing and messaging perspective. They also talk a little more about the status of the headphone jack (19:25), given some purported video leaks. MashTalk listeners, please just accept it: the headphone jack is going away.
Finally, Pete spearheads a discussion on Tesla's updated master plan (21:50), which includes solar powered cars, semi trucks and automated everything. The group discusses Elon Musk's vision for renting out your Tesla when it's not in use, and whether drivers are really ready for that take on ownership.

On this week’s episode of MashTalk, Lance, Pete and Christina tackle the phenomenon that is Pokémon Go (00:50). In a wide ranging chat, they talk about everything from the growing Pokemon Go economy (04:30), the user experience (09:05) and why Pokémon Go works (11:45). Lance shares his take on how the craze will end(17:51), because nothing gold – or Pokémon Yellow – can really stay.
The gang shares a few thoughts on Prisma (20:00) – the filter app taking over the globe – and discuss how the success of Pokémon Go and Prisma disprove the idea that apps are dead.
Moving on, Pete breaks down the latest Tesla news (22:50), including the calls from Consumer Reports to rename Autopilot. Note: We recorded this episode before the latest news broke about the Model X rollover crash. There’s always next week.
Finally, Lance helps shed some light on the major drama happening at Hyperloop One (34:15). And seriously, this Hyperloop One saga is full of twists and turns.

On this week’s MashTalk, Lance, Christina and Pete are back talking about all the stuff happening in work this week.
They start out with a “hella good” discussion about Microsoft’s terrible recruitment email (0:20). Seriously, can brands stop saying bae already?
The team then moves into a broad discussion about Snapchat Memories (2:32), one of the biggest changes to hit Snapchat in the history of the platform. They spend some time discussing what this feature could mean for helping the platform expand (especially amongst olds). If you want to know how to use Snapchat Memories – they’ve got a guide for that too
After talking about Snapchat, the gang segues into a discussion about Tesla and autopilot (15:50). There have been a few incidents concerning autopilot. They discuss what this means for the future of driverless cars and regulation.
Moving on, the group discuss the latest hoverboard recall (29:40), which conveniently happened just as Swagway released a new Swagtron, which has certification. The new Swagtron isn’t banned – but you probably won’t be able to ride it on the street anyway. Lance still loves his. If you bought a hoverboard that was recalled, we talk about what you need to do now (34:34).
The show wraps up talking about the public betas for iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. (42:10) Christina is running the beta on some of her devices and Lance is committed to installing it on one of his phones. Pete, Pete’s going to wait. But there is a discussion some of the big features coming to both platforms.

On this week’s episode of MashTalk, Lance, Pete and Christina talk about the changes happening with the Facebook News Feed (05:00) and how it will impact regular users, brands and news publishers. They then shift gears to talk about a slew of Amazon announcements – including the return of Prime Day (20:30) and the ultra-discounted Android phones Amazon is subsidizing with special offers on the lock screen (27:30). They give a few words about Android Nougat (34:30).
Moving on, they tackle some Windows 10 news (37:00), including the release date for Windows 10 Anniversary edition and Microsoft’s ultra-annoying, truly-terrible way Microsoft attempted to force users to upgrade to Windows 10. Finally, the MashTalk crew says goodbye to Samantha Murphy Kelly. Samantha, we love you and are so proud of you!

In this episode of MashTalk, Pete, Christina and Lance discuss Mark Zuckerberg's paranoia (1:00) -- that might not be THAT paranoid -- before diving into how Siri works on macOS Sierra (9:05) and how it compares to Cortana (10:00). We then shift into some other thoughts on macOS Sierra (18:05), including Apple's increased focus on iCloud and services.
We then segue (heh) into Lance's review of the new Segway (28:15). Is it too little too late? Hoverboards are over so does this thing stand a chance? Speaking of having a chance, is Periscope having a renaissance? (36:48) After the GOP blocked CSPAN cameras from covering the sit-in/protest, Democrats broadcast the happenings on Periscope. We talk about the broader implications for live video.
Rounding out the episode, Pete gives us all a great tip for making sure your computer microphone isn't spying on you (44:10) and Lance shares his love of the $150 Star Trek Communicator (44:45).

In this episode of MashTalk, Lance, Pete and Christina do a deep dive on WWDC and everything Apple announced.
They start off offering their take on the keynote (0:30) and the tenor of Apple announcements. First up is iOS 10 (8:30) and the impact the new changes coming to Messages on the platform. We spend a lot of time on Messages before moving into a discussion on differential privacy (21:25) and whether that can ever offer as good of a predictive experience as services that track you more (Google, Facebook). We shift on to talk about the new Home app (29:42) and whether Apple can really make HomeKit a thing. Pete goes on a fun tirade about his propane tank. We have a brief discussion about how you can "delete" pre-installed apps (35:15), Apple Music (37:00). We shift into the renamed macOS (38:12) and Siri coming to Mac. We round out the discussion to talk about the new look on watchOS 3 (44:35) and the changes coming to its Health and Activity apps. Finally, we finish off with tvOS (49:15) and the fact that Single Sign-on is coming to Apple TV.

In this week's episode of MashTalk, Lance, Christina and Pete discuss what we expect to see at WWDC (and what we don't expect), the changes happening at Nest and offer up a PSA for using a good Twitter password.
We kick off our WWDC conversation (0:45) and talk about what changes we expect, including Apple Music (2:00), we debate over whether we'll see hardware (8:30) and then discuss some of the broader App Store changes that were announced this week (10:30). We then spend some serious time talking about Siri (23:30) and whether Apple can catch-up to the game it arguably helped created. We round off the show by talking about the changes at Nest with Tony Fadell's exit (36:40) and then discuss the importance of good Twitter passwords (44:45) in light of the most recent password hack.

This week on MashTalk, Christina and Pete discuss the latest happenings in tech. They get started with a brief correction, regarding the Motorola Razr's comeback (1:00) and basically beg Samsung to truly bring back to the flip phone. They then move on to talking about the latest iPhone rumors (5:00), including reports that we might not get a major redesign until 2017. They also discuss rumors of a 5K Apple display (13:15) before moving on to talk about some of Elon Musk's comments at the Code Conference (18:35). Are we living in a simulation? Are we in the Matrix? Elon thinks so.
They then discuss the news that Snapchat might now have more daily active users than Twitter (32:30) before moving on to talk more about Twitter, a year after Jack Dorsey's has return (35:30).

This week on MashTalk, Christina, Lance and Pete discuss the new changes coming to Twitter (0:30). We then delve into Xiaomi's new Mi Drone (10:30) and talk about the impact this low-cost, high-performance drone could have on the drone market and what it means for Xiaomi's U.S. ambitions. We then spend some time talking about the latest round of layoffs and writedowns hitting Microsoft's mobile division (22:04) and what it means for the Surface Phone.
We round things out with our Lightning Round (38:38), where we quickly take on topics such as Google's name and shame game with OEMs, the Motorola Razr comeback and Snapchatting at the top of Mt. Everest.

This week on MashTalk, Lance and Christina discuss all the big news coming out of Google I/O (2:30), including Google Assistant (8:15), Google Allo (16:15), and Google Home (25:00). Then, Christina calls Pete who's been on the ground at Google I/O to get his thoughts on the conference (35:00).

Why did Instagram make such a major redesign to its logo and platform now? We discuss on this week's MashTalk, with the help of Mashable designer Sam-Stringer Hye (who designed MashTalk's logo!). Then, we discuss the latest wave of iPhone 7 rumors that have come out in the past week (25:15). Finally, Lance Ulanoff calls in to share what he saw at Hyperloop One's historic test in Las Vegas (38:15).
Side note: This is our 50th episode of MashTalk! Thanks to everyone for listening and providing us with feedback.

This week on MashTalk, we attempt to sort through the iPhone 7 rumors and determine once and for all: Will there be a headphone jack or not? Plus, we discuss the intriguing news that robots are becoming capable surgeons (12:30), and we end with possibly our longest Lightning Round to date (22:00). Yes, the Lightning Round includes the topic of sex in autonomous cars.

This week on MashTalk, we're taking stock of all things Apple after its first "bad" quarter in 13 years. Will the iPhone 7 turn things around? Has Apple reached its ceiling? Plus, we look at what struggling Twitter (29:00) can do to right the ship and look at yet another dominant earnings report from Facebook. Lastly, we wistfully pine over great gadgets we'll never buy in "The Gadget Price Is Too Damn High" (42:45).

We've been playing with the new MacBook all week and we are divided on it! We break down the strengths and drawbacks of Apple's latest MacBook (1:00) and compare it to its biggest competition. Plus, we look at Amazon's moves to become a Netflix competitor (28:15) and the end of Yahoo as we know it (37:30).

This week on MashTalk, we discuss Facebook's big announcements from its annual developer conference F8 and what that means for the future of the social platform. Then we discuss HTC's new flagship phone, the HTC 10. And finally, we talk about Kindle's new e-reader, the Kindle Oasis.

This week on MashTalk, we look at Tesla's successful launch of the Model 3 and debate whether the hype will translate into long-term success. Then, we discuss our experiences with different VR gaming devices, including the PlayStation VR and HTC Vive (27:30).

This week, Lance calls in from Microsoft Build to break down everything Microsoft announced at its annual developer conference, including HoloLens (9:15) and the company's emphasis on bots (17:00). We also discuss Tesla's launch of the Model 3 (25:00) and do a round of Rapid Reactions to the week's news (34:00), including updates to Instagram and Snapchat.

On this episode of MashTalk, it's all Apple, all day. We discuss Apple's recent event (1:00), its new recycling robot Liam (8:30), the iPhone SE (17:00), updates to the Apple Watch (29:30) and the smaller iPad Pro (35:30). Then, Six Colors Editor-In-Chief and Apple expert Jason Snell joins us to offer his insight on Apple's new products and the event itself (46:15). Congrats to Jason for becoming MashTalk's first repeat guest!

It's time for another Apple event! We run through all the rumors that have been surrounding the event, including a 4-inch iPhone (1:00), a new iPad (20:15), and updates to the Apple Watch (29:00). We then discuss Instagram's reported switch to an algorithmic feed (34:30) and end with a round of Rapid-Fire Reactions (45:00) to the rest of the week's news.

This week on MashTalk, we discuss a photo Kanye West uploaded to Twitter that set off quite a frenzy in the Mashable office (0:45). Then, we go over the latest Apple product rumors (13:00) and the rumors surrounding the Apple cars (32:00). We end by playing a round of Rapid Reactions to the rest of the week's tech news (40:30).

CleanFacebook Reactions: What we Love, Angry and Haha about the new feature

Now that Facebook Reactions are live for everyone, we share our thoughts on the positives and negatives of the new feature and how it fits into the larger Facebook landscape (1:00). We also break down the updates in Apple's intensifying battle with the FBI (18:30) and discuss the latest new Apple product rumors (38:00). We wrap it all up with a round of Rapid Fire reactions to everything we saw at Mobile World Congress (43:00).

This week, we take a deep dive on Apple's recent legal battle against the FBI after a federal court judge ordered Apple to assist the FBI with unlocking an iPhone used by one of the attackers responsible for the mass shooting in San Bernardino.
We...

This week on MashTalk, ThinkUp CEO and Twitter super user Anil Dash joins us as we analyze Twitter's timeline changes and their rough earnings call this week. We also discuss the recent controversy on Free Basics and why Facebook is having trouble...

It's Facebook's 12th birthday! And the service is going through some changes. We discuss how the service is changing its News Feed (1:30) and its degrees of separation experiment (6:45). We also get into iPhone 7 rumors (19:30), Samsung Galaxy S7...

This week, we're here to disrupt your creative process. We run through Twitter's terrible week and how Kanye West may have save it (1:00), Facebook's continued domination (20:00), Microsoft's disastrous marketing campaign in the NFL (28:30), Apple...

Following news that Nest's smart thermostat quietly leaked user data, we decided to take a deep dive into security concerns surrounding smart home devices. Can people hack into your home through these devices? If so, what can be done to make these...

It's the Apple rumor sweeping the tech world — will the iPhone 7 be too thin to have a headphone jack? And if they do, will it affect iPhone sales or not be that big a deal?
Plus, we look at the best features coming in iOS 9.3 and discuss how...

CleanWhat it's like to be a VR porn star — and other dispatches from CES

This week, we discuss the best and weirdest things we saw at CES 2016, including cars (2:15), LG's rollable display screen (12:40), Samsung's smart fridge (23:30) and, of course, VR porn (36:00). (Yes, that last segment is a bit NSFW).

This week on MashTalk, our Product Analyst Raymond Wong recaps his quest to find the camera with the best smartphone and shares his results. Plus, we discuss the great hoverboard backlash (20:30), and analyze whether Trump's plan to "shut off the...

On this week's MashTalk, we share our ranking of the 100 best iPhone apps of all time. We'll discuss how we came up with the list, which apps we debated the most, and why our Top 10 all deserve such high acclaim. Our App Reporter Karissa Bell makes...

On this episode of MashTalk, we discuss the biggest rumors surrounding the iPhone 7 and whether or not you should believe them. We also discuss the reasons Amazon's drone service hasn't taken off yet, and we offer a word of caution about purchasing...